As you framed quite well, competitiveness is a large concept. There are a lot of variables at play. Those factors have different implications for different companies, depending on the realities of their operations.
One of the themes for today is Canada's north, and as both the witnesses from the chamber and I mentioned, one of the principal things that reduces the competitiveness of the industry in the north is the significant infrastructure deficit.
Just to give you a little bit more detail, MAC, with partners from all of the territorial mining chambers and the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, undertook a relatively thorough analysis to try to quantify that cost differential. Working with our members, we ascertained that it is two to two and a half times times more expensive to build a mine in the north than it is to build a comparable mine in the south, and 70% of that cost differential is directly attributable to the infrastructure deficit.
When you try to factor in some of these competitive challenges with respect to trade, our view fundamentally is that trade begins at home, and if a company cannot reliably operate competitively within Canada and bring their product to market competitively, then some of the benefits that trade agreements have historically brought are difficult to reach. Therefore, while we view making progress from a trade and investment standpoint through the TPP as essential, we also view correspondingly that investments and policies must be made and implemented in Canada to ensure that our domestic competitiveness relative to that of other international jurisdictions is on the same playing field.